Monday, January 30, 2012

I'm going to post a "few" more pictures from our Disney trip ~ be thankful I didn't take very many pictures this year at all:-)

As I mentioned before, we spent Saturday and Sunday at Magic Kingdom and headed to Hollywood Studios on Monday morning. We were hoping to get there when it opened to race to the Toy Story ride for fast passes, but we had a little later start and didn't get there at opening.

Still we raced to Toy Story and it was broken and fast passes were already for evening hours. We were so disappointed. The ride did open later in the day and the wait was 90 minutes. No thank you. We ended up coming back on our last day, Wednesday, to be with Buzz and Woody. The grands like the Buzz ride at MK better, but the adults all prefer this one.

Since we couldn't ride we looked for some characters and the kids were excited to meet Jake. He's a new guy since our last visit.

We had time to watch the parade and had a great spot to sit and watch. It was not crowded at all, nothing like watching a parade at MK.

This is a horrible picture of the kids, but a cute one of their shirts:-) and shows us waiting for the monorail. An every day occurrence.

This was Tuesday morning and we were on our way to breakfast with Chef Mickey.

LOVE this picture of Jackson with his very favorite person. I think he sleeps with at least 4 Mickeys in his crib.

We spent our last full day back at Magic Kingdom riding all of our favorites and catching the fireworks that evening.

Jackson and Jessica were behind Cooper and me on the race track. It would have been a great picture to see Grandma getting out of that car at the end of the race. HA

Our third and final character dining.

As we were waiting to leave on our last day I snapped this picture of Elizabeth by Mary Poppins. She loved that the umbrella and bag were real.

This is our last day back at HS on the Toy Story ride. It has the cutest queue ever. You are inside Andy's toy box and it is darling. {especially when it is not filled with people so you can really see everything}

The soldier is trying to get Jackson to salute.

Hmmm ~ didn't quite get it:-)

Here are tired, but very happy Grandma and Grandpa with 4 tired, but happy grands. We had a great trip and can't wait to do it again!!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

We left bright and early on a Saturday morning for our adventure to Disney World. Elizabeth and Ben hadn't flown in awhile so they were excited for the ride. Just for the record and so we don't forget ~ we all got up around 3:00 for our 6:00 flight. Note to self ~ don't start a trip with small children with a lack of sleep! They all did really well, but I know well rested would have been better.

Aren't they so cute in their ears?

Jackson is all set too.

And we are there! I really didn't take many pictures this trip. I was busy pushing a stroller and just enjoying the kids. But this was our first ride, and Jackson's first teacup ride. You can see Laura and the kids behind us in the "fast" teacup.

And here they are at the end of the boys favorite ride. Buzz Lightyear. I should have kept track of how many times we rode this ride. Bob was always running to get us fast passes.

That first evening after dinner, Bob and Jessica took the boys back to the room for bed and Elizabeth, mom and grandma headed to her special appointment in the castle.

Getting her princess sash. And can you believe I didn't get a picture of the finished product? Hopefully Laura will post one. It was crazy busy in the salon!

This is the next day ~ we had breakfast in the castle ~ didn't take one picture! {that's why she's wearing her dress. The boys were adorable in their knight capes ~ hope the girls have some pics!}

Meeting their hero. Love Jackson's face.

Here we are in line at Buzz ~ as I've said ~ we spend a lot of time here! The kids other favorite ride ~ Thunder Mountain ~ was closed. That was disappointing. And we could only peek at the addition to Fantasy Land. It looks like it's going to be great. We will have to come back!

I love this picture.

This is how they ate breakfast almost every morning. This little area was right outside our room and they are all staring intently at the TV. They were in heaven.

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Magic Kingdom with the crowds, and headed to Hollywood Studio on Monday. We really wanted to go on the Toy Story ride and rushed right over ~ but it was broken and all of the fast passes were gone.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

We had so much fun on our first trip to Walt Disney World with our grandchildren last January that we thought we would do it again.

We gave them the trip last year as a Christmas present. I was going to do that again this year when I realized that I was setting myself up for a new tradition. And one that probably wasn't always going to be...

So, we decided to give them the trip for their birthdays instead.

We left on a very early flight on Saturday.

We didn't tell the kids until Friday night.

We thought this time that Bob and I would just take the 3 big grands by ourselves and only go to Magic Kingdom for a few days. A mini trip if you will.

But, I quickly realized we couldn't leave Jackson (2 1/2) home, so that meant Jessica would have to come too. Well, then Laura wanted to come also.

So the 8 of us would go for a few days and just do Magic Kingdom.

The kids came over after school and loved the table and wondered what it was for. I told them it was a surprise birthday party and that led to speculation about whose? Well, our Ben's birthday is in a few days so they were convinced it was for him.

A few things to fill their treat bags for the airplane.

To say they were excited was an understatement. I think, at first, when I told them, they thought I was kidding.

Of course, Jackson doesn't know what's going on, but he loves Mickey!

After eating some Mickey chicken nuggets and other goodies, they went home, very excited, to go to bed early and be ready for our 6:00 AM flight.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

For the fourth January in a row, we were fortunate to go on a 5 day/ 4 night getaway for Bob's work. Twice have been in Florida and this year was our second trip to California.

This year we stayed on Coronado Island in San Diego.

Love.

More love.

And even though we stayed in the "new" part of the hotel, this was the view from our balcony and the sunset on our first evening.

In the morning I was greeted by dolphins frolicking in the waves. Can you see the little specs in the following pictures? It's hard to watch and try to take pictures at the same time.

On Saturday Bob was able to go on an outing with me. We decided to go to Temecula, to see the shops and a few wineries.

We stopped for lunch here to see what all the fuss is about. 2 of these recently opened in our metro area and the people went crazy. It was good ~ but I wouldn't wait in line for it.

I used my IPad to locate both the town we were going to and this restaurant. That little toy is so much fun for traveling! Weather, roads, restaurants, all at your finger tips. It's wonderful.

The town has an old town lined with shops and eateries. It was a beautiful day and pretty crowded.

The first few wineries we stopped at were crowded too. There were bus tours which means lots of people.

A sweet woman at the first winery told us about this place ~ Oak Mountain. We loved it.

First, no crowds. They had live music and a fabulous view. I had some brie on the grill ~ yum ~ and a great glass of wine.

And you can see it was a beautiful day.

Bob was chatting with a guy who had a London cab and was starting a limo service to the wineries. Not a bad way to see the sights.

A lovely trip, but now back to reality. Thank goodness we got the trees down before we left and a great deal of the stuff, but I still have a bin or 2 downstairs and I haven't touched the grandchildren's bedrooms.